Donald Wuerl

His Eminence Donald William Wuerl
Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington
Wuerl in 2015
Archdiocese	Washington
Appointed	May 16, 2006
Installed	June 22, 2006
Retired	October 12, 2018
Predecessor	Theodore McCarrick
Successor	Wilton Daniel Gregory
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli Chancellor of the Catholic University of America
Orders
Ordination	December 17, 1966 by Francis Frederick Reh
Consecration	January 6, 1986 by John Paul II, Agostino Casaroli, and Bernardin Gantin
Created cardinal	November 20, 2010 by Benedict XVI
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	Donald William Wuerl (1940-11-12) November 12, 1940 (age 83) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Denomination	Catholic Church
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Pittsburgh (1988–2006) Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle and Titular Bishop of Rossmarkaeum (1986–1988)
Motto	Thy kingdom come

Styles of Donald William Wuerl
Reference style	His Eminence The Most Reverend Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American prelate, a cardinal, of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington in the District of Columbia and Southern Maryland from 2006 to 2018.

Wuerl was elevated by Pope John Paul II to serve as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in Washington State (1986 to 1987), and as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania (1988 to 2006). Pope Benedict XVI named Wuerl as archbishop of Washington and made him a cardinal in 2010.

Wuerl is widely viewed as a theological moderate, and is well known in the church for his ability to forge consensus between different factions. Questions arose in 2018 of whether Wuerl had adequately dealt with allegations of sexual abuse against clergy under his jurisdiction. A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report criticized how he handled sexual abuse cases during his time as bishop in Pittsburgh. Wuerl has denied mishandling the cases.

There were additional accusations that Wuerl, despite initially denying it, was aware of sexual abuse accusations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, his predecessor in Washington. On October 12, 2018, Pope Francis accepted Wuerl's resignation as archbishop of Washington. Wuerl remained in charge of the archdiocese as its apostolic administrator until Francis appointed his successor, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, in 2019.